Warren Romney

We borrowed the Wall Street Journal's headline from an article about the private equity buyout of H.J. Heinz.  Our spokesperson for the popular press narrative on private equity has been Two Face, and he has been wildly popular among readers of two posts.

3G Capital made an impressive turnaround of Burger King, and I'm pretty sure that their plans for Heinz will also bear fruit.  Otherwise, Warren Buffett wouldn't have jumped at the chance of getting in on this deal.

In another story to generate a chuckle, the New York Times writes obliquely about the rehabilitation of Steven Rattner, a private equity investor whose reputation was "sullied" for improperly raising money from a New York State pension fund. For this, he paid fines imposed by Democratic star Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was then wearing the hat of crusading Attorney General.

Then, Mr. Rattner becomes President Obama's auto czar, and steps down because of the pension fund improprieties.  But, the Times writes,

 "And to take the story full circle, the Obama administration, which had eased Mr. Rattner out of his role, appears to have re-embraced him, even using him to campaign for the president last fall."

 A quid pro quo?  A pour boire?  Two Face?